Jai Herbert is fighting at UFC London but even he failed to get everyone he wanted at the March 19 show a ticket to watch him fight Mike Davis.
‘The Black Country Banger’ has fought three times in the UFC but they have all been behind closed doors and away from home.
Herbert is excited to return to the UK for a fight in front of his home fans, although at this point he’d take any crowd.
“I’m excited,” Herbert said about fighting at UFC London during an interview with LowKickMMA. “The last three fights have been behind closed doors, so they’ve been a bit weird, man. I’m really excited to get back in there in front of the crowd and I feel like I really thrive in front of the crowd. I love it! I love fighting in front of a crowd and I thrive on the crowd’s reactions to everything.
“I fought in Belgium one time and the crowd was really against me,” Herbert added. “On the walkout, I had my opponents’ fans shouting abuse at me and everything but all that stuff it just gets me going, it inspires me to do better. If you’re supporting me or not supporting me, the atmosphere gets me going, man.
As is often the case with major sporting events in the UK, tickets sold out in double-quick time before they began to pop up on resale sites for extortionate prices.
Luckily, Herbert was able to get some tickets for his nearest and dearest but not everyone he wanted at the fight will be at UFC London. The 33-year-old thinks something needs to change to stop sporting events from being exploited by rip-off merchants.
“The UFC sent me a link to get some,” Herbert said. “I think I only had a couple of hours to secure some tickets for close family and friends. So, I managed to get some for my close family and friends, but I couldn’t get any for all my friends. It’s mad. I think it’s terrible all these bots or when people buy these people buy tickets and sell them for triple the price and that. I mean, it’s disgusting, man, something needs to change about that I think.”